Systems which enable the on-line creation of greeting cards and distribution of the greeting cards with gifts are disclosed in published PCT Patent application Ser. No. PCT/US00/41272, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTION OF GREETING CARDS WITH ELECTRONIC COMMERCE TRANSACTION.
With such systems, when printed materials, such as personalized greeting cards, personalized promotional advertisements, or catalogs are used, one of the most significant issues is the time and labor required to match these materials with the packing documents (tickets) and any other package items and to ensure that the printed material is included in the correct package. However, much of this matching process is still done manually.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system which enables printed materials, such as personalized greeting cards, personalized promotional advertisements, or catalogs to serves as the pick ticket used to match the printed materials with a gift or package.
Another need exists for a system which enables printed materials, such as personalized greeting cards, personalized promotional advertisements, or catalogs to serves as the data medium from which to print the shipping labels.